REPORT OF A BOY BEING PUNISHED BY HIS ARM BEING CRUSHED

Another email that is often circulated shows a picture of an 8-year-old Iranian boy grimacing in pain as his arm is crushed underneath a car – the report claims that the boy is being punished under Shariah law for stealing bread.

This picture originated with the Iranian news site Peykelran, which confirms that the picture actually depicts street performers hustling money from onlookers by staging a common act, one in which a subject seemingly allows himself to be run over by a heavy vehicle and then emerges unscathed. The fact that the young boy grimaces his way through the stunt is all part of the act, intended to elicit sympathy and extra money from onlookers.